Before the launch of my new book City Streets are for People, illustrated by Emma FitzGerald, (Groundwood Books), I was trying to think about where the idea for the book came from, and I realized that as a lifelong cyclist, I’ve been thinking about it forever. In fact, I sometimes think of my life through the bikes I’ve had. There was the banana seat bike with handlebar streamers and hokey spokeys that clicked and clacked as the wheels turned around; the many Raleighs and 10 speeds that took me around our neighbourhood and to high school; the big heavy purple bicycle built for two my parents owned that I would commandeer to take friends for a ride. I also think of the red mountain bike I bought with my own money and carted back and forth to university and across the country a few times until it was eventually stolen by the henchmen of notorious Toronto bike thief, Igor. I’ll never forget seeing my boyfriend, now husband, chasing the thief down our street dressed only in a leather jacket and underwear. And then there was the blue-and-white beater with white wall tires I got to replace the stolen bike, and the heavy, sturdy blue workhorse (see below) I used for years with a child’s bike seat on the back, stuffing my sons in even as they got too big and refused to be stuffed. Before that, I often brought them along on that bike as I participated in Critical Mass, a monthly city ride in which cyclists gather and take over the streets. It’s a joyful, fun, celebratory event. Once a year, people do it nude!
But the thing I really love about Critical Mass is one of the mottos: We’re not blocking traffic, we are traffic. It’s a statement, to me, about how we need to shift our thinking about what is normal on our streets. I believe that bikes and pedestrians and scooters and wheelchairs, not to mention public transit options, have as much a right, perhaps even more, to be on the streets as any single occupancy vehicle. City Streets are for People was born from this recognition. It’s a book that asks kids to imagine a city where they feel safe, where the air is clean and there is space to connect with others and the city around them. It offers inspiration from cities and citizens around the world—from electric trains to shared scooters and cargo bikes, from solar-powered buses to electric trams that hang 12 m over the street. It also offers ideas for how readers can claim their city streets for themselves and their communities. After all, City Streets are for People! www.andreacurtiskids.ca Follow me on social @andreapcurtis Comments are closed.
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